The Winter of Chuck’s Discontent
January 19th, 2004The misty, thermal inversion which I’m going to refer to as The Dark Times is upon us. Warm air pushes down on cold and traps it in the valley and stays until a strong wind or storm blows it out. It is gray and tragic. It rivals Los Angeles smog on a bad day. Here, on such days, people can be ticketed for having wood burning in their fireplaces. The aged snow has that nasty crust across the top which reminds one of the power of nature, our human frailty against it and the need for NASA inspired space age fabrics to cover the skin. It is the time of gin soaked melancholy and endless shivers.
When the Former Congressman (who has his own version of high-tech coat called fur) goes out to do his morning business, he walks gingerly across the snow. He does so because he has just woken up, hasn’t had his coffee and if he doesn’t he might sink down through the crust and get his legs wet. He is tentative. This is a marked difference to his reaction if the snow is fresh or is falling. If it’s falling, he’ll raise his nose skyward and sniff, hoping to catch a few flakes on his nose before he tears through the snow, crazed and giddy. Scientists are baffled as to why he loves the fresh powder and disdains the crust. My theory is that he was obviously a professional skier in a past life. Despite his love of snow, on these freezing mornings he looks fragile and small; like he’d rather be inside. It is on these mornings that once he’s done, I call him and he comes back to me taking the route of least resistance, happy to be returning to the warm kitchen where he will beg incessantly. And I will inevitably buckle and give him a treat.
If you have a pet. Love it today. Some are without theirs. o
:”( I’m so sorry.
They say the most horrible thing that can happen to someone is the loss of a child. It’s funny because to some of us our animals are our children (we love them just as much), yet they have shorter life spans. We are also expected to go on with our lives much faster than if our human child died.
I am so sorry about Pepper. I believe that we are all filled with spirit (both human and animal). Perhaps that soon to be beautiful baby of yours will have a little of Pepper’s spirit in her. The circle of life, if you will.
that blows. i had to say goodbye to one of my own this year as well. i like most dogs so much better than most people.
my deepest sympathies.
I wasn’t allowed to have pets growing up either, so I used to adopt turtles for a couple of weeks and raise fish. And even when they died, I managed to freak out and cry for a day or two.
Now, I’m 30 and I have three cats who were all rescued from the kitty guillotine and a pug named Gomez on his way. I just could not have it on my conscience knowing that these furry bastards were taken away to die.
There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t wonder what life is going to be like without them. My husband and I don’t like to talk about it. We actually took in another, younger cat recently in hopes of staggering their ages as two of them are much older. This is ridiculous logic. I know that when the time comes for my oldest it won’t help. I’ll just have a lot of cats. (Not that that’s a bad thing).
I am so sorry for your brother in law. I can only imagine what he’s going through right now. The day they pass on will surely sadden me wordless.
Oh man. How very, very sad. I’m so sorry for your brother-in-law. I can’t imagine losing one of my cats. We had tons of animals growing up (dad is a vet) and yet I was never as close to them as I am to my adult-life pets.
This is why I’ve never come to terms with cubicle-loving people who own pet iguanas, or little leopard geckos. It’s inconceivable to come to terms with the fact that these people’s only thrill in life is when their precious reptile’s tail has fallen off, or it’s now consuming its fifth batch of crickets within two days. Oh, wow. How “cute”.
Dog truly is (wo)man’s best friend, and there’s simply no substitute. Raven gives Chuck warm greetings! Isn’t it wonderful to wake up in the morning and find your beautiful mass of snow terrorized like this?
(Dear God, may HTML be enabled.)
Well, now that I’ve successfully posted one-too-many comments for my own good, here’s the addresses, so I can correct my above post from looking suavely geek:
1) http://gorgeouslies.org/images/cleansheets!.jpg
2) http://gorgeouslies.org/images/house.jpg
My puppy rotwieller was run over last weekend. He somehow managed to get out before we woke up and was killed by some prick who didnít even stop. For that behaviour deserves a beating, I was so sad and angry that if I caught the guy I would beat him broken.
You know what they say, all dogs go to heaven, the have pure souls and so they deserve no less. Take comfort in knowing that they are happy.
Dooce’s entry was so heartwrenching. My parents had to put our dogs to sleep four and five years ago due to untreatable health problems and age and my mom still hasn’t gotten over it. She said it hurt almost as much as if my brother or I had died.
I have always wanted to be a puppy raiser for one of the service dog organizations near here and my only reluctance to do so is how difficult it would be to send them on to training. My hubby says that when it came time to give the dog back I would either wind up in a suicidal depression or the dog and I would head for the border, never to be seen again.
I think we do bond with dogs closer than any other living thing than to our offspring or parents and we have a more predictable source of unconditional love than even from our family. It’s one of the sad things about dogs- their owners can beat the crap out of them and still the dog will lick their hand.
I hope you and Heather have a long and happy life with the former congressman, that he adjusts to his new little sister and that your brother-in-law and his family heal from their loss of Pepper.
Well said Dez.
D.J. Blurb, we are all on the edge of our seats awaiting the arrival of dooce jr.
My leopard gecko just died today and it has been really sad
This was my first real pet (I got her at the begining of college). I gave her a little burial in the backyard. I have 2 cats as well and cannot imagine loosing them in the future!